Kimmel Is Lifted to Late-Night Victory by N.B.A. Tie-Ins

ABC’s all-out commitment to pushing Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show during its coverage of the N.B.A. finals paid off last week with the best ratings for the show in five years, and a first: Mr. Kimmel topped both Jay Leno and David Letterman in the most important late-night ratings category.

That category — the one preferred by advertisers — is viewers ages 18 to 49, and for the week, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” averaged 934,000 viewers in that group, his best total since October 2007.

It was also enough to lift Mr. Kimmel past Mr. Letterman, who had 818,000 viewers in the age group, and barely to edge him above Mr. Leno, who averaged 917,000 viewers. Mr. Kimmel had never beaten both of those late-night stars for a full week.

ABC offered special prime-time editions of Mr. Kimmel’s show on the two nights (Tuesday and Thursday) before it broadcast the National Basketball Association games; the competitive, entertaining games delivered huge lead-in audiences to both local late news and “Nightline” on those nights. Those shows lead into Mr. Kimmel’s.

ABC also delivered an especially big audience to those shows on Friday night last week when it presented the tightrope walk over Niagara Falls by Nik Wallenda.